Additional Asian PP, PE cargoes surface in SE Asia, Europe

Additional cargoes of Asian PP and PE are showing up in Europe and Southeast Asia as disappointing demand from China continues to push traders to divert material to other markets along with some Chinese traders looking for re-export opportunities, as per ChemOrbis. A trader based in Taiwan reported to have diverted some allocations of Thai LDPE film to Southeast Asia this month due to lack of confidence in ability to conclude satisfactory sales in the Chinese market. “We have managed to conclude some deals in Vietnam but are struggling to conclude deals in Indonesia,” the trader commented. A China based trader is exploring re-export of some Thai LLDPE film to Southeast Asia. “The Chinese market is well supplied for now and we have heard that some other traders are enjoying good margins re-exporting material to Southeast Asia. We are hopeful that we will be able to conclude some deals in the Southeast Asian market, although we are still working on forming connections with Southeast Asian players for now,” the trader stated. A converter in Indonesia reported to have received an offer for Saudi Arabian LLDPE film on a re-export basis from China. “We are in no rush to purchase for now as we have enough material in stock to cover our needs until the middle of May. We plan to observe the market for a while longer before making any additional purchases,” the buyer told ChemOrbis. A trader based in Vietnam said that they received an offer for Saudi Arabian LLDPE film from a bonded warehouse in Hong Kong. “The trader offering this material seems eager to conclude some deals in Southeast Asia and is willing to give some discounts from their initial prices. However, we decided not to purchase this material as we are satisfied with our stock levels for now.” Players in Southeast Asia’s PP market also reported receiving additional offers for Asian origins as sellers look to move some their China allocations to alternate destinations. A woven bag manufacturer in Indonesia has received some Central Asian homo-PP offers on a re-export basis from China. “We find the offers we received from Chinese trader to be competitive, although we did not make any purchases as we are satisfied with our stock levels.” A China based trader reported, “Healthy re-export sales have given some support to PP prices in China recently. We are offering some material for re-export and have received some bids from buyers in South Africa and Europe at prices around $20/ton below our initial offer levels.” An Italian converter manufacturing household products reported that they purchased some Far Eastern homo-PP injection recently. “We were not all that happy with the price we received for Far East Asian material but decided to purchase this material anyway to avoid paying even higher prices for European origins,” the buyer reported. A trader reported that they managed to conclude some deals for Far East Asian LLDPE and HDPE film to France last week. “We have been able to sell a good volume of Far East Asian materials to France as buyers find prices for this origin to be more competitive than the prevailing spot prices for European materials,” the trader stated.